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Double Dose: Donaldson, Diaz go deep for second game in a row as Jays win 14-5

April 3, 2018 - 9:00pm

TORONTO — The Toronto Blue Jays didn't have to rely on homers to get another victory Tuesday night. A barrage of hits — with a couple of long balls mixed in for good measure — proved to be too much for the Chicago White Sox.

Aledmys Diaz and Josh Donaldson homered for the second straight night as Toronto pumped out 10 extra-base hits in a 14-5 laugher at Rogers Centre.

Diaz had three of Toronto's 15 hits as the Blue Jays extended their winning streak to four games. Five of his teammates chipped in with two hits apiece.

The Blue Jays have hit at least one homer in each of their first six games.

"We can spread it out through the lineup pretty good," said Toronto manager John Gibbons. "It's a good hitting park. We'll hit our share."

Diaz hit a two-run shot in the third inning and Donaldson had a two-run blast in the fourth to help make a winner of Toronto left-hander J.A. Happ.

The Blue Jays (4-2) touched up Chicago starter Miguel Gonzalez for three runs in both of those frames. Toronto turned the game into a rout with a seven-run eighth inning.

"It's a little bit of a different look than the past couple years with those guys," Gibbons said. "We're a little bit more athletic, a little more team speed. It's not great team speed but you can do some things.

"It's good to have an aggressive mentality. You've still got to be smart with it but we'll be able to get ourselves in scoring position more because of that."

The White Sox (2-2) have dropped two in a row. Toronto will go for a sweep of the three-game series on Wednesday night.

"Tough day for us today," said Chicago manager Rick Renteria. "We just weren't able to contain them today. We have to be able to bounce back tomorrow and put this one behind us."

Donaldson returned to third base after moving to designated hitter for four games due to a 'dead-arm' issue. He delivered a solid throw to first base for the third out after Happ gave up two singles in the first inning.

Luke Maile led off the third with a double and was cashed in promptly when Diaz turned on a 1-0 pitch for his second homer of the year. Curtis Granderson hit a two-out triple in the fourth and scored when Donaldson hit his second homer of the year.

Tim Anderson, Yolmer Sanchez and Avisail Garcia hit solo homers for Chicago. The Garcia blast was a moon shot off Happ that hit the facing of the 300 level, just under the hotel room windows at Rogers Centre.

"I don't think I've seen one struck as well as that," Renteria said. "A pretty impressive blast, to be honest. Anybody who is a fan of baseball must have been impressed by that shot."

Happ (1-1) allowed seven hits, one walk and four earned runs over 5 1/3 innings while striking out nine.

Gonzalez (0-1) was charged with five earned runs over five innings. He gave up eight hits and two walks while fanning four.

Diaz and Donaldson were at it again in the bottom of the sixth. Diaz hit a flare to reach base and advanced to second when Granderson flew out to the left-field corner.

Donaldson hit a liner off the top of the wall that brought Diaz home to restore Toronto's three-run lead. Diaz left the game due to back spasms in the seventh inning and was replaced by Gift Ngoepe at shortstop.

"I had good expectations coming on to this team," Diaz said via a translator. "The team is doing well and we're getting some wins. So let's hope that it keeps going like that for us."

The Blue Jays batted around in the eighth inning. Maile capped the carnage with a two-run double in his second at-bat of the frame.

Toronto outhit Chicago 15-10. Announced attendance was 17,451 and the game took three hours 27 minutes to play.

Notes: Donaldson made a whistle-blowing gesture at the Chicago dugout after his homer on Monday night. He did not repeat it after going deep on Tuesday. ... Donaldson has homered in his last five games against the White Sox. He also had a five-homer streak against Chicago in 2015. ... Canadian snowboarder Max Parrot threw the ceremonial first pitch. He won silver in the men's slopestyle event at the Pyeongchang Olympics last February. ... The Blue Jays will send Aaron Sanchez (0-1) to the mound on Wednesday against fellow right-hander Carson Fulmer (0-0).